This post may contain affiliate links. Read more at our disclosure policy.
This Hatch Chile Cheese Dip is the greatest thing to happen to cheesy beer-infused dips since cheddar. It is a magical combination of slowly smoked sausage, Hatch Chile peppers, crisp beer, and melted cheese. Can you ask for a better cheese dip?
Table of Contents
Whenever I travel, I’m always inspired to replicate recipes from any given trip. And this one hails from a trip to New Mexico. Freshly roasted Hatch Chile combined with smoked sausage and then cheese make an incredible flavor combination.
Ingredients + Substitutions
- Ground Hot Italian Sausage – We like the added spice from the pre-seasoned sausage. You can also use sweet, or mild if you don’t like as much spice. We like to smoke the sausage first for more flavor, but if you don’t have a smoker you can brown it in a pan.
- Fresh Roasted Hatch Chile Pepper – Hatch Chile season is late summer and early fall, and the flavors are amazing. If you can’t find fresh roasted Hatch Chiles, you can roast them yourself or buy them frozen. A close flavor profile is Anaheim chile, which is very mild.
- Butter or Oil – Use to soften the onions.
- Onion – Red onion is our favorite flavor profile followed by a sweet onion. You can also use shallots if you want something mild.
- Flour – Adding the flour helps with the thickening.
- Beer – A light beer creates a better flavor profile, so we recommend Pilsner, Kolsch, or an Amber.
- Cheese – Mix cheddar cheese (we prefer sharp), smoked cheddar, and cream cheese for the melted gooeyness.
- Dijon – For acidity and a nice tang to balance the rich cheese, use a good Dijon mustard. Alternatively you can use a yellow mustard.
The smoked sausage adds incredible flavor to the cheese dip.
Smoke the Sausage and Hatch Chile
Start with bulk hot Italian sausage, break it up into small coin-sized pieces, and place it on a tray or sheet pan. Then, smoke it at 250 degrees F for around one hour or until the internal temperature of the thickest chunks is at 165 degrees.
We recommend using an instant-read thermometer like the Thermoworks Thermapen, taking the temperature in the thickest pieces of sausage, and inserting a probe only halfway into the meat.
At the same time you can smoke your chile peppers next to the sausage. Hatch chile peppers are in season, so we’ve been using those. But Poblanos work well too, as well as Anaheim. Hatch can be spicy so if you want less heat, go with a Poblano.
After those are smoked, chop up the chiles and break up the meat if it is still in larger chunks. Then start the dip.
Alternatively you can roast green chiles on the grill as well.
How To Make Cheese Dip
- Heat up butter in a medium size saucepan over medium heat, then add the onion. Let soften (about 6 minutes). Add the pre-smoked chile peppers and sausage. Cook together, stirring often, about 4 minutes.
- Add the flour and stir together for 1 minute as the thickening agent. (You can use cornstarch as an alternative).
- Add the beer and bring to a simmer, then reduce to low. Add cheeses and Dijon mustard and let melt together while stirring.
- Transfer to a dish and serve with slices of bread or corn chips, pretzels, or bread.
For Extra Kick: If you want to add a little extra kick we recommend topping your smoked cheese dip with some pickled peppers. We’re a little obsessed with the spicy pickled peppers by the local company, Mama Lil’s. But you can experiment with any pickled spicy pepper to top your dip with.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this to you AND teach you how to smoke the perfect turkey.
Pro Tip: If you’re serving this for a party or don’t intend to devour it within 5 minutes of cooking, transfer it to a slow cooker and keep on low to keep the cheeses from hardening back up. Leaving it over a low heat will keep it creamy and indulgent.
Smoked Cheese Dip Beer Pairing
Since this dish was inspired by a brewery version, and we made it with beer, it would only be fair to pair the finished dip with a beer. Go ahead and use whatever beer you used for the dip. We generally prefer lighter beers for this. Anything like a stout or porter will add intense flavors taking away from the gorgeous smoke from the sausage and chili peppers.
The hubby’s fav is Kölsch. It’s super refreshing and super crisp and is fantastic inside the dip as well as a palate cleanser in between bites.
Wine Pairing
Why yes, you absolutely can, and should, pair wine with this! We cooked this on AM Northwest recently and brought wine to pair. The rich creamy flavor is best with sparkling wine or even Champagne. If looking for something white a buttery Chardonnay is a good match.
More Dip Recipe Inspirations
Get a signed copy of our cookbook! Order Now
Tried this recipe? Give us a star rating and we would love to see! Mention @vindulge or use the hashtag #vindulge on all the social media handles. And consider subscribing to our newsletter where we drop all our favorite ideas and inspirations every week.
Smoked Sausage and Hatch Chile Beer Cheese Dip Recipe
Ingredients
For the Smoked Sausage and Chillies:
- ½ pound ground hot Italian sausage, casings removed (or bought in bulk), crumbled into large chunks
- 4 Hatch chile peppers
For the Beer Cheese Dip:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ⅓ cup red onion, diced
- ⅓ cup smoked Hatch chile peppers, diced (from above)
- 1 cup smoked sausage, broken up (from above)
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 cup beer, (light beers work well, like pilsner, kolsch, amber)
- 1 cup smoked cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 cup sharp cheddar, shredded
- 1 ounce cream cheese
- 2 teaspoons Dijon
Instructions
To Smoke the Sausage and Chiles:
- Preheat Smoker: Preheat the smoker to 250 degrees, I like oak wood for both the sausage and chile peppers.
- Smoke Sausage: Place sausage pieces on a baking sheet and place onto the smoker for 60-90 mins or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
- Smoke Chiles: Cut the chiles in half, lengthwise, and remove the stem and seeds. Place directly on the smoker for up to two hours or until soft. You can go longer, but the chile may dry out so be careful. Let cool then dice them up to prep for the dip. You will need 1/3 cup of the diced smoked chiles for the dip.
To Make the Beer Cheese Dip:
- Heat up butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, then add the onion. Let soften (about 6 minutes). Add the pre-smoked chile peppers and sausage. Cook together, stirring often, about 4 minutes.
- Add the flour and stir together for 1 minute as the thickening agent. (You can use cornstarch as an alternative). Add the beer and bring to a simmer, then reduce to low, and then add the cheeses, and Dijon mustard, and let it melt together.
- Serve warm. Enjoy with chips, baguette slices, or soft pretzels.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
It will be too cold outside to fire up the smoker when I plan to make this recipe- any suggestion on using liquid smoke instead to capture the smokey flavor?
Liquid smoke may run bitter if you do. What you could do is roast chile under broiler or if you have gas – roast them over the flame of gas. That can add some char flavor. Another option is to use smoked cheddar cheese.
OMG I rarely miss real cheese except when I see recipes like this. This looks like the ultimate cheese dip!! I would eat way too much of it. And that Occidental Brewing Kölsch sounds like a delicious pairing.
I love any kind of cheese dip, and the fact that this one has sausage, hatch chiles, and beer in it makes it that much more enticing
This looks so dangerously delicious, Mary! My husband hosts his poker group at our house about every two months. Guess what I’m making them next time they come over?!?
I love making hatch chili queso, but I love that you’ve added a good beer to this to kick it up a notch. I also appreciate the tip about the slow cooker to keep it warm because I always panick about my timing when serving queso and this makes it really flexible!
Absolutely obsessed with the fact that this cheese dip is: smoked, made with hatch chiles and then topped with Mama Lil’s! Yum. Yum. Yum!!!
Thank you!!!! (We are secretly obsessed with Mama Lil’s!!)
Knowing you and your recipes, this dip will be AMAZING! I bet it’d totally impress people at a football game party or any other gathering!
Huh, never seen this Occidental Kölsch before. (HA!)
I know, right?! The guy is a bit obsessed!